Only I Know
by Sakura2811
Summary: Based off of the movie Bram Stoker's Dracula. Adriana narrates her life from the death of her parents when she was 15 to when she was a servant to Dracula starting at when she was 16. When she is 19 she goes with Dracula to London as his 'assistant'.
1. Chapter 1

I never expected to be a bride of Dracula let alone the only one. My name is not Verona, Aleera, or Marishka. It is Adriana. Just simply Adriana. I was born in 1878 to a gypsy farmer and his wife that lived in the village near Castle Dracula. Fourteen years after I was born I had grown into a beautiful young woman. All of the village boys turned from the other girls and flocked towards me. I was surprised by all the attention that I was receiving from men. Before no one ever really noticed me. But after a little bit I began to enjoy it. The other girls grew jealous of me and also three women that I never expected.. Dracula's brides.. They feared that their master, Dracula would see me and take me to be a bride. They killed my parents and almost killed me. I am still haunted by the images of them being killed.. They killed my father first then they drained my mother slowly in front of me. They stole the necklace that she wore. A necklace of a dragon with a crystal in it's claws. I didn't stop them in fear of my death and I knew that they were stronger than me. I hoped that I would never see them again..

A week after my parents were laid to rest the gypsies that worked at the castle offered me a job. I would be doing nothing but shovelling earth into boxes but I would be paid for my work. I accepted and started working the next day. I still lived in my house even though it was deemed 'unholy' by the church. I myself didn't believe in God. I was agnostic on the borderline of atheism. I never went to church even when my parents were alive. They never were church people anyway. I was only fifteen but I worked hard for my age and size. The gypsies were surprised at me and they accepted me as one of their own. I was already one of them through blood but now they were my friends, my family and I would be damned if those women came to take them away from me. I didn't exactly know who I was working for. It could've been a count or a gypsy for all that I knew. But on the day of my sixteenth birthday I found out. It was Dracula that I was serving. He had a pale face with high cheekbones just like mine, long dark brown wavy hair that matched the color of my hair almost perfectly, deep dark brown eyes that were earthy like my green, and a strong body that was directly the opposite of mine. "He is handsome.." was the thought that first ran through my head, and it was quickly followed by "Why is he looking at me?" close behind it. His dark brown eyes were locked onto me and they were trying to meet my emerald green. He began to speak with a gypsy but his eyes were locked onto me no matter how much I tried to shake them.

I was afraid of his eyes. There seemed to be a hunger deep within them. I of course being naïve thought that he wanted my blood, not my body. But in reality he wanted both. I tried to ignore him but his gaze grew more intense by the second. He said a command to the gypsy he was speaking with and turned and walked away. I felt relief when he left but the gypsy went up to me. "The count wants to speak with you Adriana." he said to me. I gathered my skirts and followed him up the stairs and into the castle. We went through a door and were in a lower part of the castle. It was dusty and seemed lifeless. But as we passed by a room I heard three women giggling.. I moved closer to the gypsy that was guiding me to the count. He had heard it too but didn't show any sign of it. We went a long flight of stairs and ended up in a more used part of the castle. I felt more comfortable as I saw lit candelabras on the walls. I couldn't hear the womens' giggling and my heart instantly slowed down to a normal pace. I could tell that the gypsy beside me was afraid of them too. We reached a door and he knocked on it. There was no audible answer but he opened it anyway and took me in.

Sitting at a desk with maps, books, and papers strewn across it was Dracula. Immediately the gypsy bowed and I curtsied. He told us to rise and he looked me in the eye. "I want you girl to clean my castle." he said to me. My mouth went dry at the sound of his voice. It was strong but beautiful.. "Y-Yes my lord.." I said the best I could trying not to embarrass myself. "Leave us." he said to the gypsy. The gypsy bowed then left the room and went back to the other gypsies. "Girl." he said to me breaking me out of my shock. "Yes my lord?" I asked out of reflex all too quickly. "You will be cleaning my castle and getting blood for me and my brides." Dracula said. My heart nearly skipped a beat. "Y-your brides?" I asked. "Yes of course.." he said eyeing me. "Yes my lord.." I said my eyes trying not to meet his. "I will show you to your room." he said as he rose and walked out of the room. I followed him and admired the interior of the castle for the first time. It was beautifully constructed but it was also dusty. I understood his need for a servant. He took me down a hallway and opened a door. "This is your room." he said to me. I walked into the room and looked at it. It was simple with a large bed and a bathroom attached to the room. I looked into the bathroom and there was a large tub that had space for a fire underneath it for heating the water. There was a sink and a toilet nearby the tub too. There was a cabinet with soaps and towels. I was set for life in this room! I went to my employer and he told me my first duty. To dust the hallways. "All of them?" I asked just to make sure. "All of them." was his answer as he handed me a feather duster and walked away. I saw all the hallways and sighed. "This is going to take a long time." I thought to myself. I started dusting and finished one hallway in about thirty minutes. I was on the final hallway when I heard the giggling again. I hurriedly tried to finish up before the giggling would come closer. Thankfully I did finish up and ran to Dracula's study but I slowed down to a walk when I saw the door. I knocked on the door and I felt a presence in my mind. "Come in." he said in my mind. I shuddered slightly and then opened the door and walked in. He looked at me. "Did you finish?" he asked. "Yes my lord." I responded. "What is your name?" he asked me. "Adriana." I said. "Adriana.." he said testing it on his tongue. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up at the sound of him saying my name. "A beautiful name." he said finally. "Thank you my lord." I answered shyly. He nodded to me. "I want you to check on my brides." he said. Panic rose up in my eyes. "Y-your brides?" I asked. "Yes my brides." he said. I curtsied immediately to cover up my mistake. "Yes my lord." I said.

I left the room and ran as fast as I could to the room where I heard the giggling. I opened the door and I walked to the dusty and old floor bed. I heard voices whispering in my ear to lay down and rest. I recognized the voices.. It was the women that killed my parents.. I immediately backed away but they surrounded me. They were beautiful and ferocious looking. "A little peasant girl.." the blonde said excitedly. "Yes.. but she is so pale and thin." said the brunette. "Doesn't she look familiar my sisters?" the black haired one said. "She does.." the blonde said. "Oh the little peasant wench whose parents that we killed!" the brunette said excitedly. "Yes.. The one that we let live.." the black haired one, clearly the oldest said meeting my eyes dead on. I began to panic. I tried to run away but they pinned me to the wall. Then I noticed that the oldest was wearing my mother's necklace.. I couldn't help but stare at it. "Doesn't it look better on my neck than your mother's?" she hissed in my ear. I shuddered at her ice cold breath on my sensitive ear. "It would look horrible on you." the blonde cackled. I tried not to cry and better yet scream. I opened my mouth but the brunette covered it with her ice cold hand. "We should let her know who we are sisters so she can address us properly." the blonde said eyeing me directly in the eye. "Oh yes sister such a wonderful idea!" the brunette said. "I am Verona the oldest bride." said the black haired woman. "I am Aleera the second oldest." said the brunette. "And I am Marishka the youngest." said the blonde. I nodded wildly and Aleera took her hand away from her mouth. "And your name little wretch?" Verona asked harshly. "A-A-Adriana.." I said fearfully. "Adriana.." they hissed together testing it out. I thought that all of the hair on my head was standing on end. "Don't try anything with our master." Aleera hissed in my face. "We won't hesitate to finish what we should've done a year ago." Verona hissed menacingly. I nodded as much as I could and they backed away from me. I ran out of the room and ran to my room. I slammed the door and locked it. I leaped onto my bed and sobbed into the pillow. I was terrified. I couldn't bear to leave my room that night. I was afraid of dying by their cruel hands as my parents did. Eventually Dracula came to find me but by then I was finished crying and I had cleaned my face. He gave me food and left me alone for the night. One day was down but the rest would be hell.


	2. Chapter 2

I awoke the next evening by a stern knocking on my door. I got out of bed and opened the door. It was of course Dracula. He gave me a list of chores then left. I got dressed then ate my breakfast. As I ate I looked at my list of chores. It was long to say the least. I quickly got up and started on it right away. I had to mop, dust, monitor the digging of the soil, get blood, serve the blood to Dracula and his brides, and wash their clothes. I stared at it and gulped. "Oh dear.." I mumbled. "This is going to take forever.." I said. I put it in my dress pocket and washed my face. I put on my shoes and opened my bedroom door to see a mop and bucket with soap and a feather duster. I sighed and picked up the bucket. Hell had come again.

I dusted the hallways again and all the rooms then mopped the floors. My hair had been tied back when I was dusting but by the time I was a third of the way done with the mopping my hair was loose. I could hear the gypsies working down below as I mopped. I sighed. I'd rather work down there with my friends than up here with those horrible brides of Dracula. As I was almost finished mopping my ribbon was very loose. The brides walked through the halls and Verona snatched the ribbon out of my hair and threw it into the bucket of soapy water. I put the mop back into the bucket and started to mop the floor with it and my hair ribbon. When I saw it I gasped and got down on my hands and knees to untangle it. I saw the brides walking down the hall. I knew that one of them had put it in there. They hated me. They wanted to make my life miserable. I tied the ribbon around my wrist to let it dry and continued mopping. I was waiting for them to come back so I leave a big giant puddle of water for them to slip on. Dracula checked on me. "How are your chores going?" he asked. "Good my lord." I replied. "How many have you done so far?" he asked. I looked at the list. I dusted and mopped so I had done two. "Two my lord." I answered. He nodded. "Very good." he said and walked down the hallways to his study. I put the list back in my pocket and continued mopping.

When I had finished mopping I went down the stairs and into the area where the dirt was being dug up. I watched the gypsies dig and dump the earth into crates. I had to stand near a stake with a skeleton impaled on it. It seemed to stare at me with empty eyes. I shuddered and tried to ignore it but I could feel it watching me. I kept myself focused on the packing of the dirt. After a while I went back upstairs to get blood. "Where am I going to find blood?" I asked myself. Then I remembered the village and my house. I had chickens.. I would bring them to the castle. I told Dracula where I was going and he nodded in understanding. I went to my house and put my chickens into cages, three per cage. I went to the barn and found my horse happy to see me. She butted her head against my chest and neighed happily. I stroked her nose and ruffled her mane. "Hello Beta." I cooed to her. She snorted and nuzzled my face. I kissed her nose. I saddled her and since I only had 2 cages I would get through it in one trip. I had handles on the cages and I wrapped blankets around the cages so the chickens wouldn't scratch me or Beta. I rode back to the castle with the chickens and my horse. I hoped that Dracula would let me keep her. I found a stable and 4 horses already inside. Hopefully that meant that he didn't mind horses. I dismounted with the chicken cages and put the chickens in one of the empty stalls. I would get a small crate to put water and their feed in. I led Beta into one of the stalls and unsaddled her and put her tack away. She didn't want to leave me and tried to follow me around the stable as I took care of the other horses. I let her because I missed her too. When the horses and chickens were taken care of I had to put her away. She nosed the gate and whinnied and neighed pitifully. I felt horrible having to leave her there alone with those wicked women able to reach her. I would check on her often. I kissed her nose and patted her neck. "I'll check on you later." I promised her and with that I left and closed the stable doors.

I went back into the castle to get a knife. I would have to kill my chickens. I got the knife and went back to the stable and hid the knife in my bodice. I took a chicken and took it outside. It knew that it was going to die. "I'm so sorry sweetie.." I said with tears in my eyes as the chicken looked up at me in fear. I gave it a kiss and said that I would miss it. Then I snapped it's neck. It squawked pitifully as I broke it's neck and killed it. With teary eyes and a shaky hand I slit down the chicken's side and held it over a bucket, squeezing it's corpse to get every single drop of blood from it. I was crying as I did it. I felt so horrible about killing one of my birds but it had to be done. I couldn't risk a human's life. When the chicken was bled I gave the carcass to a gypsy so they could get the meat to cook and eat. Then I took the bucket inside and poured it into 4 glasses. I put the glasses on the tray and took them upstairs.

I braved the brides first. I took three glasses off the tray and set them down on the low table. They sat before the glasses all the while glaring up at me. I left as quickly as I could. Then I went to Dracula's study and placed the last glass on his desk near him. He looked up at me and I lowered my eyes to the floor and curtsied to him. I turned and left the room. My chores were done at last. It was almost sun rise and I tiredly made my way to the stable. I opened the doors and was greeted by Beta. I pet her for a bit and even brushed her. Eventually when she calmed down I left the stable and closed the doors and locked them. I went to my room and took a quick bath. I brushed my hair and put on my nightgown. I got into bed after having my dinner and fell asleep to face another day of serving Dracula and his brides from hell.


End file.
